Storm survive against Tigers

The Storm had the better of the play over the course of the 80 minutes, but a 69th minute Tim Moltzen try cut their lead to two points, and the sending off of Dane Nielsen for a 77th minute high tackle on Beau Ryan made the last few minutes a hairy experience for the home fans.

"Some young kids dug deep there for the last ten minutes," Storm halfback Cooper Cronk told Fox Sports after the game.

Nielsen became the first player to be sent off in an NRL match this season, and even more remarkably, the sending off came in his first-ever first-grade game.

But for good goal-line defence from the Tigers, the Storm could have been up by a lot more early.

The Tigers hit back soon afterwards though with a try to young five-eighth Blake Ayshford, and could have taken the lead in the shadow of half-time. But forward Daine Laurie dropped a pass after fellow big man Gareth Ellis made a bust up the middle, almost certainly costing the Tigers a try. As it was, a Melbourne penalty goal right on half-time gave them a slender lead at the break.

Soon after the break, Melbourne extended their lead in somewhat controversial circumstances with a Matt Cross try, which came off the back a penalty against Daine Laurie for what was deemed to be a late shoulder charge on Melbourne kicker Cooper Cronk.

Things looked grim for the visitors, but Moltzen's try, set up by a great break from Ayshford, and the sending off set up an exciting finish. However, the Tigers couldn't seriously threaten the Storm line again in the dying minutes, enabling the Storm to survive.

Tigers forward Gareth Ellis told Fox Sports that his side "probably left it a little too late".

Blake Ayshford, with his key involvement in both Tigers' tries and a good game defensively too, was the star for the visitors. John Morris, filling in at hooker for Robbie Farah, also defended very well.

The Storm are now just one point behind competition frontrunners the Bulldogs, Dragons and Titans in fourth place, and have won six of their last seven matches.

The Tigers, meanwhile, languish just two spots off the bottom of the NRL ladder, and have still never won at Olympic Park (eight losses in eight lifetime games).

Hello and welcome to this Round 15 clash between the Storm and Tigers at Olympic Park!

The news from Melbourne is that the Tigers have been boosted by the returns of Chris Lawrence and Gareth Ellis to the line-up this afternoon, whilst for Melbourne, Brett White starts in place of Jeff Lima in his 100th NRL appearance. Chris Heighington is the main dropout for the Tigers. The teams are thus: